Gay Anxiety
(See also: Anxiety#Gay Anxiety) Gay/Queer anxiety is the intersection of anxiety with the social dynamic of also being gay (and/or queer). Homomasculine Anxiety In my experience, homomasculine people tend to be more 'gay' than 'queer'. An inherent manliness about them allows them the privilege of passing as heteromasculine within cisheteronormative society, as long as they keep their sexual preferences to themselves. Hence, the core anxieties of the archetypal homomasculine person might be described best as an inferiority complex relating to the gap between their surface position in society and their true position as a closeted queer. By keeping their queerness in the closet, they access the social benefits of heterosexuality while forcing their own internalised queerphobia to fester. Transfeminine gays are often the receivers of this queer-antagonism and at their worst a small minority of homomasculine men will project their own queerphobia in the form of misogyny onto not just trans women but all feminine women, seeing femininity as inherently deserving of ridicule. Homofeminine Anxiety Homofeminine anxiety is the anxiety of inherently valuing femininity both in yourself and those you love, while simultaneously navigating your way through a world that is at times violently hostile to both your femininity and your homofeminine sexuality. Transheterofeminine Anxiety (TW: mentions of transmisogynistic violence) Transheterofeminine people may be heteroconforming in their sexual attraction (being feminine and attracted to masculine people), but due to transphobia they are perceived as being homomasculine men who are just effeminate, rather than actual heterofeminine people. In this sense, transheterofeminine anxiety differs from cisheterofeminine anxiety due to the heightened risks of being perceived as a man leading cisheteromasculine men to see transheterofeminine women as trying to 'trick' them into homosexuality. This constant threat of irrationally violent hatred leads most transfeminine women to have significant anxiety disorders from early life, when men first start trying to crush our feminine traits. Transheteromasculine Anxiety In a similar vein, transmaculine people who are attracted to conventionally feminine people may also see their sexual identity being othered as queer despite being heteronormative in its gender dynamic. If both parties are Oestrogen-dominant people then they are seen as lesbians by a transphobic society. However, transheteromasculine people may also be attracted to transfeminine people who are Androgen-dominant, in which case their relationship will be read as heterosexual by transphobes, but the roles of 'masculine' and 'feminine' partners will have been reversed from the heteronormative standard. I cannot speak directly on the kinds of anxieties this must raise in transmasculine people, but this context of constant erasure echoes similar anxieties as experienced by transfeminine people, only perhaps with reduced risk of 'being clocked' by an angry heteromasculine partner. Transhomo- Anxieties Homofeminine anxiety and homomasculine anxiety as described above can apply to both cis and trans gays/queers. However, the additional anxieties of occupying these social positions while trans are noteworthy: Transhomofeminine Anxiety Transhomofeminine people tend to be read as male by transphobes, hence their homofemininity is defined as either a lesser version of heteromasculinity - if they are attracted primarily to cisfeminine people - or as a particularly reviled form of homomasculinity - between two people the transphobes view as deviant, effeminate men (see Baeddelism). Transhomomasculine Anxiety Transhomomasculine people tend to be read as female by transphobes, hence their homomasculinity is seen as either a less 'ladylike' style of heterofemininity - if the attraction is with a cismasculine person - or as a butch style of homofemininity - if the attraction is with another transmasculine person.Category:Anxiety Category:Queer Theory Category:Psychology Category:LGBT